Ok, this isn't really United related, but I was just thinking from reading so many United posts........the 3 letter airport codes. How did they come about? How come some airports have very recognizable airport codes (LAX), while the others have codes that are WAY OFF? (MCO = Orlando)

Here's a couple of very recognizable airports:
LAX, SFO, SEA, LGA, ATL, MID, OAK, LAS, ONT etc

A few confusing airports
ORD (I seriously thought ORD was Orlando instead of Chicago O'Hare when I first heard it), CHO (Now this should be Chicago O'Hare, the only CHO i know is Margaret Cho! LOL), PDX (portland), MXP (Milan), MCO, YVR, IAD

A few confusing ones but recognisable because of the obvious history/name/city:
JFK (John K Kennedy-NYC), SNA (Orange County, but airport is in Santa Ana)

So I read this article which explains how some of those airport codes came about. It is very interesting. For instance, airports used to only have a 2 letter code - LA, PD (portland), PH and when there were more airports being added later on, X is being added to them - LAX, PDX, PHX (this is coincidental).

Also some airports are named because of the land of which the airport resides used to be: MCO = McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando

A lot of them are military related. For instances, Navy saved a lot of the airport codes that start with N - NPA, Pensacola. ORD-named after a navy airship: Orchid Field.

Also, Y is reserved for Canadian cities: YVR- Vancouver
and Z is reserved for special cases. ZCX- computer address for FAA air traffic control headquarters.

Here's the article: http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html

This may have been posted or discussed before, but for those who don't know, its quite interesting.